In many ways, the built world was not designed for you. It was designed for the average person. Standardized tests, building codes, insurance rates, clothing sizes, The Dow Jones – all these measurements are based around the concept of an “average.”

Alemany Farmers Market started during WWII to support rural farms near San Francisco. Throughout the market’s evolution, its maintained modest prices, diverse customers, and a “local first” attitude towards selling produce. You’ll find an assortment of Latin and Southeast Asian ingredients unlike anywhere else, and it’s open every Saturday, all year long.

Ramekon O’Arwisters is a fabric and social practice artist who likes to say he has “no reverence for systems of control.” He is best known for creating a series of public art events called crochet jams, where he makes a space for people to create a communal work of art.

Son Jarocho is a style of Mexican folkloric music that’s been growing roots here in California for at least 50 years. The music grew out of the historical mix of Indigenous, Spanish, and African cultures in the state of Veracruz, which borders the Gulf of Mexico. It’s often practiced at a type of gathering called a fandango, where the community shares music, dance, poetry, and food.

Open Air with host David Latulippe; 1 February, 2018. Producers: Niels Swinkels and Atemu Aton...

On this week’s Open Air, KALW’s radio magazine for the performing arts, we are visited by Bay Area based, Early Music ensemble Agave Baroque, which specializes in string chamber music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

The music of Seth Augustus has been described as "sharp, black diamonds flicking with their own sinister twinkle," "urban swamp music for which dark alleys and basement speakeasies were surely invented," and "the music God hears in his sleep when He has a high fever."

In May 8, 1945, the Allied powers declared victory in Europe, putting an end to the Nazi regime. There was much to be done, and figuring out what to do with Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”), Adolf Hitler’s fictionalized autobiography, was prominently on the list.

Imagine for a moment the year 1800. A doctor is meeting with a patient – most likely in the patient’s home. The patient is complaining about shortness of breath. A cough, a fever. The doctor might check the patient’s pulse or feel their belly, but unlike today, what’s happening inside of the patient’s body is basically unknowable. There’s no MRI. No X-rays. The living body is like a black box that can’t be opened.

Infrastructure makes modern civilization possible. Roads, power grids, sewage systems and water networks all underpin society as we know it, forming the basis of our built environment … at least when they work.